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I don't typically post about teams that have nothing to do with the Panthers in the Panthers forum, but I just felt like making an appreciation thread toward our FO (and yes, this includes Rivera) for their ability to consistently knock it out of the park with our first round draft picks.

CB was such a huge need, and I wanted Milliner or maybe Gilmore, and the Panthers' brass took all of 3 seconds to pick Star (yes I realize Dee was off the board at that point), who subsequently had a plus grade in his first game by PFF, who graded the highest of all (defensive) rookies, and who will be beasting people for years to come. I'm sure Milliner will be a quality player, but our 1st round rookies are playing lights out from day one.

Last year I wanted Coples. The staff went with Kuechly, whom we all know got DROY, already is a defensive captain and leader, and is already widely regarded as the best MLB in football. By the way, if you can obtain a copy of the draft day chat room transcript and read my comments re: the front office for drafting Luke, I highly suggest it because it's comedy gold and further proves my inability to recognize otherworldly talent.

Prior to that, I wanted Marcell Dareus (lol) over Cam, and the organization knocked it out of the park with that one as well. We all know how that turned out and Dareus is clearly at least 60% retarded.

The point of this thread more than anything is to lighten the mood around here and provide hope for the present and the future. We may just get ROY 3-peat, which while it isn't SB championships, should set us up in the future. I don't know how many times a team has gotten 3 ROY players in a row, but I'd imagine the list is short.

So stay positive for the things to come. Yes we have wallowed in futility for what feels like forever, but things could become very bright for the Panthers very quickly.

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Star was absolutely the best pick we could have made. Star helps us stop the run, collapse the pocket, and make our DB's look better. He simply has a bigger impact than any kind of CB could. Especially right out of the gate as a rookie.

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Star was absolutely the best pick we could have made. Star helps us stop the run, collapse the pocket, and make our DB's look better. He simply has a bigger impact than any kind of CB could. Especially right out of the gate as a rookie.

You will hear a lot of people say that DT isn't a position that easily translates from college to pro ball, and that it can take some time for DT's to come into their own. So for Star to be beasting people from the first snap is kind of a big deal.

3) He has brute strength and quickness that allows him to have nasty leverage on an offensive lineman. I could see how quick, finesse type of player might struggle at first because of the speed of the game at the NFL level, but Star has a very important traits that are very important to the position. He is also very smart.

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So stay positive for the things to come. Yes we have wallowed in futility for what feels like forever, but things could become very bright for the Panthers very quickly.

Monsta, I agree. I wanted us to trade down and take Marcel Dareus or Fairly. However, if the rumors are true, the Panthers wanted Mark Barron over Luke, until the Bucs jumped on him. Still, I can say that I wanted Luke, but only late (draft week).

It was fairly obvious during the preseason the Panthers at last had a stud defensive tackle for the first time since Kris Jenkins left Charlotte. Now, while this wasn’t a totally dominating performance from Star Lotulelei (+3.3), it was still very good indeed and for a rookie on his debut – extremely impressive.

As a pass rusher he picked up a couple of hurries (one was numerically negated on an illegal shift by Seattle) and also drew a holding penalty from McQuistan, but it was his work in run defense that stood out making four tackles, three of them for 1 yard or less.

He only played 61% of snaps which is low by the standards of the premier DTs (Geno Atkins averaged 74% last year) but that will build and, for now at least, Panther fans can look forward to a significantly improved run defense in the middle.

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2 years from now people are going to be talking about star as one of the best DTs in the game. People know who he is right now, yes, however, he will be even more well known despite the low exposure of being in Carolina

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2 years from now people are going to be talking about star as one of the best DTs in the game. People know who he is right now, yes, however, he will be even more well known despite the low exposure of being in Carolina

The thing is, because of his rookie season and because he's the QB, people always talk about Cam. I think about our defense and how if we can acquire (draft or FA) some good DB's it could be the best in football. I don't need Cam to become the best of all time. With the potential of this defense, he can continue to be a natural playmaker and I think we can win titles without him having to put the team on his back, which is what he's been used to doing since high school.